The security of any country is becoming threatened more and more by individuals who seek to impose their own beliefs on the society by destabilizing the current governments, taking retribution against others, and/or to profit illegally from sales of drugs and guns, for example. Accordingly, governments are devoting more resources to deter such efforts. Such individuals and products can enter a country by many different means, ranging from walking in as human carriers to other transportation means (e.g., vehicles and other craft) that transport large containers thereby making it very difficult to adequately process such containers, craft and vehicles in large numbers without having an economic impact.
Some such materials do need not be supplied or conveyed in large quantities in order to do damage or cause harm to life and property. For example, small quantities of nuclear and biological material can pose great risk to human health. Moreover, given the destructive power in economic terms as well as human life associated with such small amounts it seems that individuals are more apt to take the risk of dealing with these materials for personal gain or other reasons. Accordingly, airports and borders are being more closely monitored for individuals and the transport of illegal materials trying to enter (or leave) a country. However, the numbers of vehicles and people moving across borders is enormous. Similarly, the number of shipping containers being transported in and out of ports, and the number of large trucks hauling such containers provides an even more difficult task of ensuring that no harmful or illegal products or materials enter the country. In other words, the capability to quickly monitor, scan and detect each human, container, truck and ship, for example, without having a negligible effect on commerce and travel is nearly an impossible task.
Current methods include x-ray detection and other nuclear techniques for non-human examination, such as at airports for luggage, none of which address the possibility that such materials can be carried by the person. Similarly, such applications are not conducive to scanning people or for adequately processing large numbers of vehicles, large vehicles and large transport vessels, for example. Accordingly, a need exists for improved techniques, systems, and methodologies for detecting materials of interest in such environments.